Golden Speck
by TheSealer
Summary: When Hiccup and Toothless are forced to leave in 'When Lightning Strikes' they never expected to be found by an old crippled Rider and his majestic golden dragon. Viking boy and Night Fury are rescued and brought to safety by Oromis and Glaedr. One-shot!


This happens in the episode '**When Lightning Strikes**' and after the book **Eldest**. Although I have read about Oromis and Glaedr, it was the Portuguese version, so don't blame me if I got their vocabulary wrong.

It's my first **HTTYD** and **Inheritance Cycle** story and a one-shot. I might write another called '**Black Curtains**'.

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><p><strong>Golden Speck<strong>

When Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III had organized the construction of perches for dragon, he never thought it would come to this. Lightning started to strike Berk, a bad omen that the Vikings had earned Thor's wrath. The whole village had been aroused by Mildew to blame Toothless, given Night Fury's are 'the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself'.

Nothing Hiccup had attempted, even building a metal statue of Thor, managed to pacify the god of thunder. Now half the village was looking for him and Toothless and it was just a matter of time before they found him.

"We can hide Toothless in the cover, for now." Astrid suggested, talking to Hiccup and Toothless behind some houses.

"They'll just find him." Hiccup disagreed. "No, we have to leave."

"We?"

"He can't make it on his own, Astrid." Hiccup looked at his dragon. It was true that Toothless couldn't fly without Hiccup to maneuver the prosthetic tail. The boy placed his hands on the moaning dragon's head "And I wouldn't want him to. I'm going with him."

"But you'll come back, right?" she asked with a penetrating look.

"Yeah...eventually. When they all realize this didn't happen because of Toothless."

Astrid looked downcast. She turned back as the sounds of an angry mob grew louder.

"You better go." she said. Hiccup rode Toothless and the dragon took flight. They became smaller and smaller in the cloudy, dark sky. Astrid felt even more depressed when they disappeared from sight.

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><p>High in the air, Toothless grunted uncomfortably looking down. The vikings were searching the woods with torches, searching for the Night Fury. Hiccup patted his head reassuringly:<p>

"Don't worry, bud. They're just scared. They don't understand. But we'll get through this together."

So they flew south and away from Berk. Hiccup had the idea of spending the next few days away but close by. Just until the village saw the lightning wouldn't go away. Maybe Dragon Island could be safe enough for this night.

Then again the place was full of dragons. And there was no guarantee they would be less hostile than Mildew's mob. So the two kept flying south.

A big mistake.

"Oh, the gods must have joined Thor in his 'I-hate-metal-leg-and-Night-Fury' fan club. We ran from a lightning storm only to end up on a worse storm!"

The wind blew with force and the rain fell like rocks. Toothless tried to fly north, they didn't want to get to far away from Berk. But the wind was pushing them south with too greater strength to fight back.

"Give up, bud. If we keep going against it, the storm will toss us away." Hiccup spoke heavily. It was better to follow the wind than to fight it in a storm like this. Fortunately Hiccup was packing thick clothing and Toothless inner-fire kept them warm against the cold.

For more than a day (Hiccup counted the hours) the storm kept pushing them south. Toothless was getting exhausted from the flight. Hiccup tried to sooth his dragon.

"Come on, bud. Just a little longer. Until we find…"

Land!

"Look there, Toothless. About time!" Hiccup smiled for the first time in this three-times cursed journey. There was land visible just up ahead. With the sight of rest of possible shelter, Toothless flew with renewed hope.

Until a lightning struck, passing by them closely. The prosthetic tail was set on fire and the two began to plummet into the freezing ocean, spinning out of control.

"_Thor you are the worst god ever!_" Hiccup bellowed in his mind. He didn't open his mouth, lest he would throw up.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could have seen a golden speck in the dark violent night.

Then boy and dragon made contact with the cold water. Then darkness claimed him.

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><p>A crack of light pierced through the darkness. Hiccup's eyes opened shakily, one at a time. There was no storm, no ocean, no darkness. Only the light of a beautiful morning sun. Hiccup sat up in a bed and place that weren't his own.<p>

"A warm ray of sun is the best first sensation to begin the day."

Hiccup turned his head to violently to the source of the voice that the joints in his neck creaked. He lifted his hand to massage the pain, but it was forgotten when he gazed into the person.

It looked like a man, but a part of Hiccup's rational mind told him it wasn't. This man was tall, slim, good-looking and not at all viking-like. The clothing were white robes that contrasted with any tunic that existed on Berk. His face was shaved, except for the long silver hair running down his back. The eyes were angular and an unnatural gray. The face and its features in general were angular, beautiful and young-looking. Like a man in his prime. Yet despite this stranger's young appearance, Hiccup couldn't stop but thinking he was older than he looked.

"Who...wha-" the boy's question was cut short. Toothless just barged inside the place, almost knocking the table over. The dragon was overjoyed to see his rider awaken and well.

"Toothless! Settle down. This isn't hom..."

An amused, melodious laughter grabbed both Hiccup's and Toothless' attention. The silver-haired man's laughter sounded harmonious, peaceful, like singing birds all in unison.

"There is no trouble. I could feel your friend's concern for your well-being when he woke up." the man smile faded and he bowed respectfully. "Apologies for not introducing myself earlier. I am Oromis. You have been asleep for the rest of the night after I brought you in. Your dragon friend woke just two hours ago."

"Uh." Hiccup remembered the storm and him and Toothless drowning. "Wait, did you saved us?"

"Not quite." Oromis looked outside through the opened door. Hiccup nearly jumped out of his skin. A giant golden eye was looking at him through the door. Toothless was a bit tense but didn't react. "You may show your gratitude to my dragon, Glaedr."

It took Hiccup a few seconds to assimilate that this not-Viking was a dragon rider. And apparently had been so for much longer than him.

"_So much for me being the first human to ride a dragon. Oh well, guess I'm still the first viking._"

After mumbling a few words of gratitude to the large dragon, Glaedr retreated his golden eye. He never came to see how large the creature was. No doubt it was larger than the shack.

Taking a look at his surroundings, Hiccup had another prove this was no viking place. The small house was fairly simple. There were shelves with legions of books and rolls of parchments, indicating a life of erudition. The table that Toothless almost knocked over had a bowl of fruit. And more amazingly, the elegant hilt of a sword in a golden seath the same color as Glaedr's eye.

Looking at the opposite side was some kind of fireplace, though some developed than any he had seen before.

At the door of entrance was the picture of a large, beautiful city built upon a cliff at the moonlight. The painting was so perfect it almost looked like a window to the city.

"You like it?" Oromis looked at it with a hint of nostalgia. "It is Ilirea, the once city of light Glaedr and I called home for many years. Now no more than a grim beacon of tyranny."

"Oh." Hiccup feared he had made thing awkward and decided to make the introductions. "Well, I'm Hiccup and this is Toothless."

The Night Fury sounded like a seagull in form of greeting. Oromis put a hand on Toothless' nose and murmured a few words in a language he didn't understand. Though the dragon seemed to, surprisingly. Funny that dragons couldn't talk but understood any human language just fine.

"Given I have detected no injury or illness in you, I count that you stand up from bed. I tolerate a great many things, but laziness is among none." Oromis sounded authoritative but his words remained as delicate as before.

Not wanting to abuse his savior's hospitality, Hiccup did as was told and accompanied Oromis outside, Toothless having gone first.

Getting up from the bed, he now realized the shack wasn't built with wooden boards. The walls were a solid mass of tree wood, uncut. He frowned at that. It was impossible.

Outside, Hiccup turned to the shack and was astonished to see the answer to the riddle. He now understood; the shack wasn't built like any normal house. Four large trees sounded its corner; the shack was those trees! The plants had grown the shack out of their own trunks.

"Wow! The trees...how is this possible?"

"What is impossible?" Oromis asked sitting on a bench. There was another bench there, obviously for Hiccup. "How do you define what is not possible? If the possible is what you have seen, then the impossible is that which you have never seen. Though given you have clearly not seen everything there is, how can you say anything is impossible?"

Hiccup just stood there, puzzled and amazed. Never before had he heard a logical and long speech like that. Usually he was the one to say all the smart things on Berk. Oromis' talk made perfect sense, though. Without retort to that, Hiccup stuttered:

"Well, _touchê_ uh...Mr. Oromis?"

"Oromis-elda, please." the man clarified. "Among my people, that is the epithet to address a senior."

"Okay, Oromis-elda...what is this place?"

The shack is located close to the edge of the cliff, where the solid white rock was exposed. Hiccup sat on his bench, not feeling like peeking over the edge yet.

"This is called the Crags of Tel'naeír and it has been our home for a long time. Mine and Glaedr's." Oromis looked up behind the shack and Hiccup followed his gaze to get yet another surprise. A golden dragon was standing behind, towering greatly above the house.

It wasn't the biggest behemoth Hiccup had ever seen. That title still belonged to the Red Death. Yet Glaedr wasn't far behind. The golden dragon gazed at them with a strange look to see in an animal. Hiccup knew he was clearly analyzing him and Toothless.

The Night Fury bowed his head when Glaedr approached his gaze. Toothless saw the bigger dragon as an elder deserving of his utmost respect. Hiccup had no problem seeing that. Glaedr was the most beautiful and majestic dragon he had ever seen. Powerful, huge, impressive. His scales glittered like actual gold.

Then he saw the amputated left front paw. It saddened Hiccup to gaze at such injury done to such a creature out of a legend. Glaedr focused his gaze on him and Hiccup couldn't help but marvel and tremble. The dragon scrutinized him for a full minute before turning to Oromis. The two shared a silent exchange of gazes for a few seconds before Glaedr puffed.

"Hiccup, let me see your hands. The hands reveal much about a person."

Hiccup showed him his hands and Oromis looked them over like a man determining if a piece of wood is valuable for a carving. Hiccup's hands had calluses from all the work in the forge, which also added a tiny bit of muscle to them.

"These hands haven't been used to manage a sword or a spear or any kind of weapon, am I correct?"

"Yeah."

"Yet you have worked on weapons for quite some time as a blacksmith." Oromis proceeded. "The power in these hands lies not on the physical strength but rather on the creativity. You have worked a lot in writing and design. And you use your talent as a blacksmith in your engineering inventions."

"I would say you are the one who designed and created the contraption attached to Toothless." Oromis indicated the artificial tail.

"That's right, I did."

"Quite a work of engineering. You are an inventor and a revolutionary." Oromis complimented. Glaedr moved again his head to look at his rider in the eye. The old duo seemed again to communicate mentally and Hiccup dared not interrupt the moment. Toothless did the same, though he focused only on Glaedr.

"Now that the courtesy of introductions are behind us…" Oromis began.

"_It is time we learn of your reason to be here, young ones._" an echoing voice rumbled in Hiccup's ears that he almost fell on his back, hadn't Toothless pushed them from behind with his snout.

"Who said that?" he looked alarmed from left to right in search of the speaker. Toothless groaned at Hiccup and motioned at Glaedr. The golden dragon lowered his head again and looked at the boy:

"_I did, young one._"

Once again Toothless had to prevent his rider from falling back. Hiccup was stupefied and took some time before replying:

"He can _speak_!"

"Obviously." Oromis answered without a drop of sarcasm. Hiccup turned to Toothless, suspicious:

"Were you able to _talk_ this whole time and never bothered to tell me?" Toothless' answer was to shake his head up in down and doing what passed as his chuckle. Hiccup sighed and looked back at the expectant man and dragon. Since they had saved his and Toothless' lives, he should probably humor them.

Hiccup explained about his home isle of Berk, the centuries of war with the dragons until Hiccup found Toothless and together they killed the Red Death behemoth and began the peace between dragons and Vikings.

"Now we learnt to live and work together. Dragons have become part of our daily lives."

"A revolutionary indeed." Oromis nodded with a small smile.

Glaedr turned to Toothless and said:

"_I want to see what you can do, young flier."_

Toothless features turned crestfallen and he turned to Hiccup. The boy grimaced; he had told a resumed version of how he met his dragon when he was shot down. He never mentioned _who _shot him down. Nor the extent of Toothless crippleness.

"Well, the problem is…" Hiccup hesitated. "_I_ was the one who shot him down. Toothless can't fly without me."

Glaedr frowned but showed no other reaction. No fury, not even asperity. Oromis remained likewise impassive.

Toothless fondled Hiccup's side with his snout in an attempt to lift the mood. Which Hiccup reciprocated:

"But that's okay. You couldn't save all of me, could you bud? You had to make it even, so..." Hiccup supported his weight on Toothless' back and lifted his prosthetic for them all to see. "pegleg!"

Both riders mounted their dragons and shot up into the sky. Glaedr and Oromis merely accompanied the other pair and watched.

"Okay, bud. They want a show. Let's give them the wildest ride you can muster." Toothless gave him his trademark no-teeth smile.

The Night Fury performed the most complex aerobatics that Hiccup hadn't seen all at the same time. Of course none of them were new to the boy, since he always rode with Toothless. But he never had tried all at once. For some of the wildest, Hiccup thought he wouldn't keep it together.

"_Only half of our dragons achieved that skill in the air._" Glaedr spoke when the show was done. "_You, young flier, were forged to fly._"

When they landed, Hiccup asked tentatively:

"Guess you two know everything about us now. But we don't know much about you." he said that with a hint of suspicion, despite this dragon and rider being their saviors.

"It is fair your point." Oromis admitted, sitting back on his bench. Hiccup did the same. The man pulled back his long hair. That revealed the ears that had so far been hidden beneath a sea of silver.

Hiccup got yet another surprise (that was happening a lot today, he noticed); Oromis' ears were pointy making them another totally unhuman feature he had. The boy recalled the old fairy-tales and his friends heard when they were kids. About gods, magic, and creatures like ogres, dragons, fairies, dwarves...and elves!

"You're...an elf!"

Following Oromis told him the most amazing, unbelievable, borderline ridiculous (yet familiar) story he ever heard. It started with a war between elves and dragons. Then an elf named Eragon acquired a dragon egg and raised the white dragon, naming him Bid'Daum. When Bid'Daum was big enough, he and Eragon flew to the dragon and elves, proposing peace before the war wiped out both races.

That first part sounded amazingly familiar, in a general sense.

And thus were born the Shur'tugal - the Dragon Riders - who became the peacekeepers of Alagaësia - the land he was in. Until the humans came along and joined the pact, enabling them to become Shur'tugal as well.

"Wow! That's just... wow."

"And what brings you to Alagaësia, Hiccup?"

And the young viking proceeded to explain that his village had fallen victim of a freakish thunder storm and the people believed the gods were angry at the lone Night Fury. Resulting in the exile of the dragon and the rider.

"At least until they realize it was all a big mistake. I just know Toothless isn't the cause. Why would the 'gods' now be angry when Toothless has lived on Berk for months?"

"When people face the unknown, they tend to be possessed by fear. Fear blinds you of reason. And absence of reason drives you into despair." Oromis sighed "Do you hate your people?"

"No, they're just being stupid because they're scared." Hiccup responded.

"Do you believe in gods?"

"Well...we all have religion but I never really believed in anything. My friend Fishlegs is usually the superstitious one." Hiccup shook his head, dubious "If the gods exist, they mostly just ignore us."

Oromis hummed to himself. He didn't argue nor agreed with Hiccup's answer, much to the viking's curiosity:

"What about you, Oromis-elda?" he almost forgot the epithet. "Do you believe in the gods?"

"No. I believe in logic. I, along with the rest of my kind, believe the world is dictated by unbreakable laws." Oromis paused for a moment. "You said that the night the lighting struck your isle, was after the dragon perches were installed? Perches made of entirely out of metal?"

"Yes, why…" Hiccup put two and two together. "Hold on, you're saying the perches were the cause?"

"Yes, but that is not my immediate point. In my life I have learnt many truths. One of the greatest is that the world rarely is what it appears. If you have flown above the clouds, you have noticed they're composed of minuscule droplets of water." Hiccup nodded at the elf. "Clouds may appear peaceful but each one can be a storm in its own right. Inside the clouds, the particles of water are in constant movement. Water is also a good conductor of electricity."

"Because of the turbulence of the cloud, the water becomes charged with energy. For some reason I haven't yet determined, the charges of energy separate into two: one positive and other negative. This separation builds up until the cloud, like a closed bottle of glass heated up for too long, cannot hold it any longer. Thus, the negative and positive charges come crashing back together to neutralize each other. And when they do, an outlet of energy is formed in the shape of a spark."

"I get." he actually had trouble following all of that, and even found that theory to be dubious. Then again, Oromis had said one thing he agreed completely: the world rarely is what it appears. "But that means the lightning should have stood in the clouds. Why were they striking down?"

"What do you think, Hiccup?" Oromis inquired. Hiccup frowned, perplexed he was asked of something he didn't know about.

"Okay...if lightning is created when negative and positive bump heads...then the perches had one of the charges. And they attracted the opposite charge from the clouds!"

"Exactly." Oromis smiled.

"Then, that's it." Hiccup smiled wider."All we have to do is take down the perches and thunderstorms will cease."

"But before you go on our journey back home, you should eat something." Oromis got up and walked into the shack. With all the discoveries of this day, hunger had passed unnoticed for Hiccup. "I'll have a filling noon meal ready in an hour. In the meantime you should go with Toothless to the sea for him to feed. Glaedr will guide you there."

Oromis disappeared inside his humble house and Glaedr got up. Hiccup mounted Toothless and they followed that mighty ancient dragon. Beyond the Crags of Tel'naeír, the forest was gradually being replaced with meadows. When the forest ended completely, they soon found the coast which extended on an endless beach to both sides.

Along the way, Hiccup couldn't stop but marvel at Glaedr. Even without a limb and being massive, he could still fly with force and pride of an eagle. Toothless however, prefered to show off his elder his best moves in the air, even though he had already done so.

One even involved doing a barrel roll, while flying close to the tree levels. That made Hiccup's face knock into a thin branch of a pine tree and fill his and mouth with pine needles.

"What was that for, you useless reptile?!"

Toothless looked at him and flashed his no-teeth smile. Hiccup shook his head and looked at Glaedr. He was still a bit nervous about the idea of talking to a dragon. Doing as Oromis instructed him, Hiccup thought his words, instead of speaking them:

"_Glaedr...I just wanted to know...what species of dragon you are._"

"_The dragons of Alagaësia have no name, as a kind, other than 'dragons'. My kind is the proudest of species. Why should we need any other label?_"

"He's not to much for words." Hiccup muttered. Toothless dove for a school of fish and came back up with a mouthful of fish. Hiccup was drenched in salt water but didn't mind. When Toothless felt like feeding himself instead of eating what the fishermen brought, Hiccup always ended up having a bath. Though he was already used to.

"And the water here is warmer, too." he said pleasingly. High above, Glaedr watched until the Night Fury was satisfied and they followed back to the Crags of Tel'naeír.

Oromis was back in his bench, outside. He carried to bowls with a delicious scent of spices and vegetables. Hiccup detected no smell of fish, meat of poultry.

"It is a soup of all the most nutritious foods the forest can grow. Enough to give you the strenght for a long journey." Oromis offered a wooden spoon. Funny the bowl and flatware also appeared to have been grown from a tree. Hiccup knew there was something Oromis wasn't telling him but he swallowed his questions and ate.

Despite the lack of fish, it tasted great. Hiccup felt his stomach purring. This vegetable soup was truly replenishing. He felt the hunger giving way to an energy boost.

When he was done, Oromis took back the bowls and Hiccup extended his gratitude:

"Thank you saving us and all your help, Oromis-elda and Glaerd. If there is anything we can do."

"You owe us nothing." Oromis responded.

"_It is the very code of the Shur'tugal to serve those who need._" Glaedr's voice thundered. He lowered his head to focus on the two. "_May you have fair winds and cloudless flights, young fliers._"

Toothless looked with reverence at the elder, bowing his head in respect. Hiccup did the same, also thanking him in his thoughts. Oromis gave Hiccup map of the seas from Alagaësia to the north. That would guide them back to their known waters.

"Thanks again for it. Goodbye!" Hiccup mounted Toothless.

"Farewell, Hiccup and Toothless. May the stars protect you."

The young pair took off into the sky and waved a final goodbye before flying away, to north. Back to the Viking Archipelagos. When Oromis detected they had left Alagaësia, he communicated mentally with Queen Islanzadí to inform her his 'guest' had finally departed.

The elf sovereign had only allowed Oromis to bring the boy to Du Weldenvarden if he was to never know the exact location of their hidden nation. Even though it was proven the boy was no psy from the Empire, now that Hiccup and Toothless had left, the magic defenses of the forest would hide it from intruders.

Even if Hiccup and Toothless were to ever return, they wouldn't find the forest. Never again.

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><p>Okay, my first <strong>HTTYD<strong> and **Inheritance Cycle** fic ever. Hope you liked it. I hate when people write crossovers just to see an event play out, not caring about the nature of the story. For example, **Oromis** never told **Hiccup** about the existence of magic because Vikings don't see witchcraft with good eyes.

Hiccup is not stupid. He knew something there wasn't normal. But he was wise enough not to push it. And **Glaedr** wasn't much talkative because he knew he shouldn't get attached or curious. He wouldn't see them again.

This was merely a one-shot. Though I'm thinking about writing another crossover similar to this one. I'm gonna call it '**Black Curtains**' because instead of meeting Oromis and Glaedr, Hiccup and Toothless will be found by **Galbatorix**. Ouch!


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